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Baylor Basketball

Breaking: Baylor MBB adds Croatian Center Marino Dubravcic

June 28, 2024
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Head coach Scott Drew and Baylor men’s basketball have rounded out their roster after receiving a commitment from Croatian center Marino Dubravcic. Dubravcic joins California forward Jalen Celestine (Sr.), Miami forward Norchad Omier (Sr.) and Duke guard Jeremy Roach (Sr.) as the four significant offseason additions to Drew’s squad.

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This offseason, head coach Scott Drew has landed four impact players: Marino Dubravcic, Jalen Celestine, Norchad Omier and Jeremy Roach.

At 6-foot-10, 230 pounds, Dubravcic has great touch around the rim and moves well for his size. He also has a 7-foot-1 wingspan and possesses the ability to block shots.

The 20-year-old big man has spent the last several years playing in various Croatian leagues. In 2023-2024, Dubravcic played primarily for Podstrana in the Croatia-Prva Liga. Across 12 games, he averaged 7.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 0.9 blocks per game. Dubravcic rarely shot from beyond the arc (0.5 attempts per game) and struggled from the free throw line, making 15-of-27 attempts.

In 2022, at the U18 FIBA European Championship, the Croatian center averaged 6.7 points, 3.9 rebounds and 0.7 blocks per contest. His efficiency around the rim was high, making 22-of-29 field goals and scoring at a 76 percent clip.

With center Yves Missi (Fr.) getting selected in the NBA Draft, Dubravcic will provide depth in the frontcourt behind Omier and Josh Ojianwuna (Jr.).

Discussion from...

Breaking: Baylor MBB adds Croatian Center Marino Dubravcic

15,040 Views | 27 Replies | Last: 6 mo ago by canoso
whitetrash
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3:36p, 6/28/24
Let's hope this one is better than the last Croatian dude we signed a few years ago.
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Bearsalwayswin
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3:44p, 6/28/24
interesting pickup hopefully can help fill out our depth
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IvanBear
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In reply to whitetrash • 4:25p, 6/28/24
whitetrash said:
Let's hope this one is better than the last Croatian dude we signed a few years ago.
Do you mean Dragan Sekelja? Because that was 15 years ago not a few.
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MrGolfguy
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5:29p, 6/28/24
W
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BearlyBeloved
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6:44p, 6/28/24

Highlights:



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GruntTuff
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8:48p, 6/28/24
Third option at the 5. Can give hard fouls. 4 minutes a game at most without injury. Glad we have him. Will know a good beer but won't be able to order it in Waco
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IvanBear
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8:54p, 6/28/24
What i'm most confused about is now we're just picking up like professional players from Europe. Is the college aspect of college sports just truly straight up dead?
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Johnny Bear
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10:00p, 6/28/24
Well, we finally got our other big. If he can just set decent screens, clog the lane, get a few rebounds and absorb some fouls when needed while playing maybe 6-8 mostly first half minutes this will be a win - even though he sounds like somebody you don't want at the line in a close game.
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Crawfoso1973
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In reply to Johnny Bear • 5:14a, 6/29/24
If he ends up capable of 6-8 minutes that would be an incredible contribution for us. Or we may have brought him in as emergency depth and a practice player with the hope he can develop for a year or 2 down the road, which would be ok too. Either way we had a the roster spot available and with virtually the entire roster turning over every offseason it really doesn't matter anymore.
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ImABearToo
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8:50a, 6/29/24
The Sky Hook is back.
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TWD 1974
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In reply to IvanBear • 9:04a, 6/29/24
IvanBear said:
What i'm most confused about is now we're just picking up like professional players from Europe. Is the college aspect of college sports just truly straight up dead?
Last I heard, the College aspect persists. Amateurism, by any sane definition, does not.
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Quinton
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In reply to Crawfoso1973 • 10:37a, 6/29/24
That's the hope. The other bigs were demanding big money so I see taking a flyer here.

Hope it doesn't ending up being a half measure. Thought this team was one quality big away from being a national title caliber and co conference favorites with KU.

Now more variables but if Josh makes a big leap and Love can stay healthy, they are still contenders. Those are the two X factors to me. If Roach makes a development leap as an older player that would be gravy

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Crawfoso1973
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In reply to Quinton • 10:45a, 6/29/24
Honestly I don't think Josh even has to take that big of a leap. We don't really go to our 5 for offense (by design) and I thought he improved dramatically in all facets of his play towards the end of conference play. He has good agility for a guy that size and was a better fundamental and positional defender than Missi as far as moving his feet and closing out. I think Josh was already better than Flo ever was for us, and after another offseason should be even better.
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Quinton
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In reply to Crawfoso1973 • 10:54a, 6/29/24
Positionally he got better for sure but rim protection needs a lot of improvement. Also needs to continue to improve rebounding and passing.

I agree we don't need big offensive output but would be nice to be a 7-8 pt guy on good efficiency with 6-8 boards a game. Need those block numbers up or at least confirmed disruptions
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Crawfoso1973
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In reply to Quinton • 11:08a, 6/29/24
Agreed, not a rim protector as far as leaving his feet to go for blocks. I think Omier will play about half of his minutes at the 5 when Josh needs a breather. I think with Omier we will play a lot of 5 out and our small ball offense will be on steroids! Hopefully our team defense holds up, I think it will because we will have better individual defenders out on the perimeter. I can't wait to see how Nunn develops especially defensively after an offseason of work. I think Nunn has the physical tools to be an above average defender. He and Josh will be key role players whose respective improvement will determine how far we can go next year
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Quinton
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In reply to Crawfoso1973 • 11:41a, 6/29/24
I agree. If Love stays healthy and Nunn develops further they could be special.

If we can pull it off, the small ball is a bad matchup for teams like Iowa st and Houston. They don't have the personnel that can defend multiple stretch guys and maintain perimeter discipline. It breaks down their defensive principles
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J.J.Crockett
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12:00p, 6/29/24
Outstanding.
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Big12Fan2024
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12:21p, 6/29/24
Stay healthy? Love's not healthy now. He had ankle surgery. I wouldn't bet a lot of money on someone who has already blown his ACL badly and now will be coming off a problematic ankle surgery.
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Crawfoso1973
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In reply to Big12Fan2024 • 1:45p, 6/29/24
Big12Fan2024 said:
Stay healthy? Love's not healthy now. He had ankle surgery. I wouldn't bet a lot of money on someone who has already blown his ACL badly and now will be coming off a problematic ankle surgery.
The season is still several months away, so Love will have time to get ready. When healthy he is one of the elite scorers in the country. But to your point, the two questions that need to be answered are 1) will he be fully healthy and playing at the level he was last season, and 2) if so, can he stay healthy? Those are two big "ifs." Fortunately we are extremely loaded at guard and wing, so we will not sink or swim depending on Love's health next season. Anything he can give us I will view as icing on the cake since we have the depth and talent to withstand his next injury.
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Quinton
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In reply to Big12Fan2024 • 4:04p, 6/29/24
Yes, "stay healthy" meaning during the season. You're hitting on exactly the concern as he's had yet another surgery/serious injury.

It's less than 50/50 I agree and he's missing critical skill development time. It's a shame bc I could see Love as a 15 ppg scorer on strong efficiency but we'll see. That's why it's a wildcard / X factor.

If healthy, he's one of the best 5 pure scorers in the big 12 next year.
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IowaBear
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In reply to Crawfoso1973 • 4:08p, 6/29/24
A healthy Love raises this teams ceiling significantly. We may not completely sink without him. But we sure as hell aren't title contenders without Langston. love. I'd argue he's the single most important player on the team. He was last year as well. That proved itself when we sunk after his Injury.
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Crawfoso1973
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In reply to IowaBear • 6:45p, 6/29/24
IowaBear said:
A healthy Love raises this teams ceiling significantly. We may not completely sink without him. But we sure as hell aren't title contenders without Langston. love. I'd argue he's the single most important player on the team. He was last year as well. That proved itself when we sunk after his Injury.
No doubt our ceiling is higher with a healthy Love, and I hope we see that again next year. But I think last year's MVP was RayJ because he was the only guy we had who could provide PG play. We had to lean on him so heavily every possession. RayJ had his flaws but if RayJ would have been injured our season would have been over immediately. Last year when Love went down we kept our head above the water and above .500 in big 12 play because we had other wing players like Nunn and Bridges who could up their offensive games and replace some of his scoring. Same for next year, we will have several perimeter guys in addition to Love who can score the rock. The one guy we can't afford to lose next year would be Omier (knocks on wood) since he is literally our only big who can provide scoring (along with his defensive toughness and rebounding). Really, really looking forward to seeing Omier do some damage in a Baylor uniform. At PG Roach will also be a big upgrade over RayJ (and no disrespect to RayJ).
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IowaBear
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In reply to Crawfoso1973 • 6:52p, 6/29/24
Omier is the real deal I'll say that much. I wanted him when he was in the portal prior to Miami. Interestingly enough that Miami F4 team was a small ball team that surrounded him with elite guards (not sure we have the guards to match that squad) but we should have plenty of success duplicating that with him when we choose
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Crawfoso1973
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In reply to IowaBear • 7:06p, 6/29/24
Omier is such a strong and crafty low-post scorer even though he's only like 6-7. We haven't had interior scoring like that since maybe Motley? Our offensive flow will look a lot different compared to the past few seasons.
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Quinton
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In reply to Crawfoso1973 • 8:21p, 6/29/24
I believe he has a 7' + wingspan.

My view only but I believe Omier was the best transfer in the portal. Better than the Az big and about even with the Fl Atlantic guard. The Seton Hall kid is close.

Omier is better than the best forward on each of the other top 4 big 12 contenders.
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BluesBear
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11:02p, 6/29/24
I just want to know - Can he shoot the 3?
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canoso
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In reply to GruntTuff • 4:58p, 7/2/24
GruntTuff said:
Third option at the 5. Can give hard fouls. 4 minutes a game at most without injury. Glad we have him. Will know a good beer but won't be able to order it in Waco
What was your take on Missi before last season?
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